Page 89 of See How They Hide

“Stay on it, Ryder,” Matt said. “Do we need to stay here?”

“That’s not my call, sir. I don’t know how fast we’re going to narrow down their location.”

“Is there a map included in the report about the poppies?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll show it to our witness, maybe it’ll spark a memory.”

“Okay—something just came in.” He paused and Matt heard the clicking of the keyboard. “The laminated poppies were not grown in the same soil as the flowers left with the bodies, and they don’t have any trace of THC. They were pressed, preserved, and laminated at the same time—they can’t determine when. The ERT unit found a laminating machine at Crossman’s residence and they’re testing it to re-create the squares. It’s likely the same one.”

“Thanks, Ryder.” Again, it was good information for the case but didn’t help them find Havenwood.

“Did Assistant Director Montero check in without a problem?”

“You are a miracle worker,” he said.

Matt ended the call, walked back to the table, and glanced at the sketch pad as he sat back down.

Riley was not only writing names, but she had sketched faces of each person. He wanted to say something but she wasn’t done and he didn’t want to disturb her.

“Everything good?” Dean asked.

“Yes. We have lab reports to review, I’ll make sure you get a copy.” He’d prefer not to talk about too many details around Riley.

“This is everyone I know who left,” Riley said. “I don’t know anyone who left after I did. It was my job to find the people who wanted to leave, and then make it happen when Thalia told me she was coming. I don’t know how she got people out after. She may not have.”

She handed the sketchbook to Matt. “This is quite impressive,” he said. “The sketches are very helpful.”

She had listed the names of the dead, but hadn’t sketched their faces.

Aside from those, there were five people on the list.

Bridget, twenty, fair skin, brown hair, green eyes. Left the year after Chris.

The sketch showed a pretty woman with a scar on her jaw line. She would be closer to thirty now.

“Do you know how Bridget got this scar?” Matt asked.

“An accident. I wasn’t there. A chain broke in the barn and hit her.”

The next two people left two years later, the year before Donovan and Andrew.

Tess & Greg. Tess is in her thirties, white, blonde, brown eyes. Greg is her partner, maybe forty or older, half black, dark hair and eyes.

The sketch had them together, a fuller sketch then Bridget, waist up, showing Greg much taller than Tess with his arm around her shoulders.

“They’d come to Havenwood the year before William died,” Riley explained. “They were newly married and their families didn’t approve of their relationship. Tess could sew anything, and Greg was a mechanic. He worked on the generators, lights, trucks, you name it. They loved Havenwood, but knew it wasn’t the same after my grandmother died. Tess became pregnant and was scared because she’d had a miscarriage early in their marriage, before they came to Havenwood. Another woman, Ginger, nearly died in childbirth. Calliope wouldn’t let her leave to get help. Ginger lost a lot of blood and was sick for months. I was good at eavesdropping, finding out everyone’s secrets, and I went to Tess and told her I could get her out.”

“Do you know if she had the baby?”

Riley shrugged.

“Do you know when she was due?”

Riley considered. “She left in June and was about four months pregnant.”

“That helps a lot.”

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